Japan?s outreach to Global South

Japan’s outreach to Global South

News: Japan has taken the initiative to raise the Global South to the top of the G7 agenda.

What is Global South?
 The term ‘Global South’ began by loosely referring to those countries that were left out of the industrialisation era and had a conflict of ideology with the capitalist and communist countries, accentuated by the Cold War. It includes countries from Asia, Africa and South America.
 It is significant owing to its large population, rich culture and natural resources.

What are challenges faced by Global South?
 Many countries struggle with issues of Poverty, glaring inequalities and are devoid of basic necessity and resilient infrastructure.
 Countries here are more vulnerable to environmental challenges such as climate change, pollution, cyclones.
 Political instability is one of the major issues in some countries in the Global South, with challenges ranging from coups and civil wars to corruption and weak governance.
 Many countries struggle to provide access to quality education for their populations, which can limit economic opportunities and further exacerbate poverty and inequality.
 Access to quality healthcare is not available.

Why Japan intends to reach out to Global South?
 Japan thinks that the war in Ukraine has made it recognise the essential relationship between diplomacy and defence. Diplomacy needs to be backed by defence capabilities and reinforcing defence capabilities will also lead to persuasiveness in carrying out our diplomatic efforts.
 After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the G7 simply took the Global South for granted and was more interested in lecturing rather than talking to the leaders of the Global South. This, in turn, left much room for China and Russia to play in the developing world.
 Japan has transformed its foreign and security policies, since it fears similar Ukraine-Like Implications.

Way Forward
 Japan has been a reliable partner of India and India has already highlighted its intention of voicing the concerns of Global South as a part of its G20 Presidency. Both, Tokyo and New Delhi can co-operate and work for Global South.